A Review of Watchmen

Everyone Watches the Watchmen...



The opening minutes of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen are cinematically perfect; starting with an intimate and brutal murder and moving seamlessly into one of the best credit sequences in recent memory. Accompanied by Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ – it showcases a visual and audio collage of events which are significant in the Watchmen universe, told with meticulous attention to detail and providing a peerless introduction to this very different world. As it traces the history from the Minutemen to the Watchmen it captures exactly the right mix of nostalgia and curiousity which will be needed to nourish the viewer through this epic film, while also giving them vital information in a way that is both clear and visually exciting. Then the famous blood-stained smiley face re-appears and we meld with the narrative and Rorschach’s first piece of gravelly narration.
The opening of Watchmen shows how film can be used to represent material from another media in a more efficient and accessible way. It also makes it clear from the first frames that the filmmakers are dedicated to not just making a solid adaptation of a wonderful story but also to using all the resources in their movie-making arsenal to also make the best film they can, with all the requisite concessions to accessibility which are required in a forum that will be seen by millions of people. As such, it should be taken on its own merits, as separate from the source as possible.
Watchmen starts with The Comedian – a long standing costumed hero turned government sanctioned killer whose death sets in motion a series of events which threatens to bring the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust. If the death of The Comedian is the inciting incident, Rorschach is the stories’ twisted guiding light, the oxymoron of a narrator who is possibly insane. He drives the investigation and it is he who reunites the Watchmen as they are galvanised into action by his paranoia. There will be no spoilers here but the tale which unravels is agreeably dark and tangled and filled with the kinds of motivations and events which would be anathema to any other superhero film.
What sets Watchmen apart is its’ characters. Although the costumes may be familiar enough, underneath lies a group of flawed and realistic human beings. They are drawn to a clandestine world for a variety of reasons and find it hard, if not impossible, to adjust once their activities are outlawed. The incorruptible but over-zealous Rorschach, the fearful Nite Owl and the conflicted Dr. Manhattan shine on the screen, with all their complex motivations and excuses given time to breathe, even in a large ensemble cast. The performances are generally excellent, with most of the cast managing to distinguish themselves despite the very real threat of being overpowered by design, effects and costumes. Jackie Earle Hayley gives a great presence to the character of Rorschach but it is Patrick Wilson who most clearly captures the realities of his role. Beaten down by life and unable to explain why he is drawn to the superhero fold, Nite Owl’s conflicts are dealt with carefully in a less obviously showy role. Billy Crudup is doubly handicapped by being rendered totally in CG and speaking in a controlled monotone but still brings a certain amount of pathos to Dr. Manhattan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan manages to make The Comedian the perfect melding of monster and realist. The only weakness in the performances lies with the female characters. In a film which would have benefitted from some strong female presence, neither Carla Gugino nor Malin Ackerman are up to the task – seeming distracted and unsure of the material.
Ackerman may not give the best account of herself in the dramatic sections but her commitment to the action scenes is total. Watchmen has some of the best action sequences ever filmed, with none of the over-cutting, hyper edited nonsense which we have come to expect from recent cinema. From the opening murder, to a jail break and even an attempted assassination, Snyder’s eye for camera angle and the effective use of slow motion is simply stunning. The fight choreography is superb, with each of the actors seeming like they could not just handle themselves in a fight but likely kill everyone in the room without breaking a sweat. The fight scenes in Watchmen are rough, rarely does a criminal escape with all his limbs intact, and the gore is effective and generally more restrained than that in 300 – although a few moments move from explicit into almost comical. Coverage and a consistent sense of geography are excellent, a necessity which many directors seem to have forgotten. Snyder expands on the action in the comic but these moments never feel as though they have been added just to create great trailer shots. With this and 300, he is truly one of the best action directors around but this film also proves, more importantly, that he can handle drama as well.
Watchmen is a sumptuous, visceral, immaculately created piece of entertainment. At 163 minutes it is never boring with dramatic sections well acted enough to be interesting, constantly fascinating design and action sequences which are tough and harsh and genuinely exciting. The camerawork is wonderful, with a constantly shifting array of dark shades and shadows creating many memorable images. The score, again by Tyler Bates, is mostly subtle and effective – rising into some perhaps ill-advised choral moments towards the end. The licensed songs are another matter entirely. Some work extremely well, like the above mentioned Dylan song but others are less effective and bring the tone dangerously close to parody at times – an odd cover of Leonard Cohens’ Hallelujah during a (slightly preposterous) love scene and the use of All Along the Watchtower spring to mind. The sound design is meaty, with gun shots and bone-snapping filling the cinema delightfully. On a side note, fans may want to know about the ending; it is handled well considering the time constraints but lacks the power and interconnectedness of the original.
Let’s get this out of the way – Watchmen is not as good as the graphic novel but that does not stop it from being one of the most mature and unique movies of the last few years. Snyder and his team have superbly realised a world that is both alien and familiar, with a host of recognisable 80s items and references melding completely with the paraphernalia of the Watchmen universe. As an adaptation it is a worthy attempt but as a film in its own right it is literally without peer, delivering a dark, dense tale of murder, betrayal and moments of the miraculous in the face of total annihilation.